Allllll Aboard!

I've hopped back on the procrastination train.

Choo Choo!

While I'm chugging right along I'll tell you about the exciting weekend I had.

First of all, it's 79 degrees right now. The end of January. And it's supposed to maybe snow this week.

I love Texas.

AND...drumroll please...I found a wedding dress! I wish I could show you, but then Andrew would see it and that wouldn't be any fun. It's beautiful though. Almost exactly what I was dreaming of..but better. It's perfect and I can't wait to wear it in June. Who knew that a hole in the wall bridal store called "bridal dreams" (can it get any cheesier? I think not) would be where I found THE dress? It was a diamond in the rough, and that makes it so much more fun.

This train needs to move on to Studyville.

Peace.

Ran-dumb

This week of school has been, dare I say it, kind of fun. Minus the three tests we took Monday and the panic that ensued throughout my poor estrogen filled class after them. We've gotten out early several times and had the opportunity to sleep in twice. The reason I say opportunity instead of "we GOT to sleep in twice" is because my body no longer understands the concept of sleeping in. It's quite sad, but I automatically wake up at 7:30 or 8:00.

Katie and I went shopping for business attire this week and it was fun. On our way back at a stop light a lady in a big van was waving and yelling at me to roll down my window. I did. I thought maybe I cut her off and she was mad so I prepared myself for "so sorry ma'am, you have beautiful hair..." but to my surprise she yelled "WHERE'S THE LUBY'S?!?!" Ohh man, it was funny.

On Wednesday we dressed up for our mock interview day. Everyone looked so nice. I've never introduced you to my family. Here they are looking all spiffy in front of our home:

It's fun and scary thinking about graduating and going to interviews. I think in our profession it's important to have a good amount of fear in you. If you're too confident, someone is going to get the wrong medicine and end up dead.

I'm going shopping for my wedding dress tomorrow. Talk about crazy.

I'm very excited.

Oh also, Robyn and I found out that our favorite blogger Matt is going to be in Austin in April doing a book signing for his new book Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love. SO excited to make this dream of being a complete creeper and meeting these strangers that I like a lot in real life.

Alright well I have completed my randomness quota for the month.

Happy Friday!

Procrastination hits an all time low

I procrastinate. It's a problem that I've had for a long, long time.

When I have a project due, or a test coming up I find myself cleaning. Not just an oh I'm going to vacuum the living room because there is dog hair everywhere type of cleaning, but a crazy, scrubbing everything in sight, vacuuming the couch and chairs type of cleaning. Insane. I also cook. Straighten my hair. Try on clothes I haven't worn in a while. Peruse facebook. Read blogs.

It's bad.

Today though, it got really bad.

My procrastination hit rock bottom.

I had just worked out (yet another way to procrastinate) and was in my bathroom getting ready to shower (and again, more procrastinating...seeing a trend here?). All of a sudden I thought "man, i could use a change in my hair" (here comes more procrastination). I got out the scissors, held out my hair for what I thought was going to be a minor trim.

I actually thought "I'm going to cut them where they are still long, so if I don't like it too much it wont matter..."

False.

I cut.

Looked in the mirror.

And terror set in.

I laughed. So hard. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know how that happened. I was only going to cut like half an inch.

Not so much. More like 4 inches.

Mind you, I will not wear my hair like that. So if we're being real, this is how it actually looks:

Which in my opinion isn't SO bad. I mean, it's not cute by any means, and if my wedding weren't 5 months away I would totally be freaking out right now and frantically looking into how much hair extensions cost. Personally, the saddest part of this picture for me is the fact that my grey hairs that I grew during that abominable last semester show up.

I guess I've become lax about my hair ever since I chopped it all of a little over a year ago.

It grows. I've said that at least 20 times to myself in the past 2 hours.

If I get any crazy self hair cutting ideas around June, I give all of you my full permission to steal my scissors, and remind me of this day where procrastination led me to make some ugly decisions.

Now that I've fed my bad habit more by writing a blog post instead of reading for tomorrow's test, I guess I've used up all of my outlets.

Farewell,

the girl with really short bangs

Things I'm liking these days

-The fact that Andrew and I booked our plane ticket for Hawaii this week. Pinch me please, because I need to wake up from this amazing dream where I get married in paradise.

-Soups. I have had this strange craving for soups lately. But not just any kind of soup; tortilla soup. It might be because my stomach has been a little on the sensitive side lately, or because it's cold, or just because soup is delicious. Either way, the past two weeks I have made 3 different versions of tortilla soup. My friends make fun of me for this. I tell them that each soup has a different name, therefore it's a different soup. Fiesta soup, mexican soup, tortilla soup, yummy soup...and the list could go on and on. One more plus- soup is cheap and portable! I can make a batch of soup on monday and take it to school to eat for lunch for the rest of the week. Amazing.

-Saving our mannequin's life during our simulation yesterday. There is nothing like doing CPR, defibrillating, and then hearing that monitor start to beep beep beep again. Such a beautiful noise.

-Fire. Julie and I made a fire in our fireplace before she left for her cruise and it was so great. I enjoy everything about it. The fact that we can turn off our heater and save $ for 4 hours, the crackly sound, the golden color that shines in the room. Mmmm. So good.

-Anticipation. Sometimes anticipation kills people. I however, am enjoying the excitement of expectation. My friend Katie asked me this week "how in the world are you going to concentrate this semester knowing that you're going to be in Hawaii getting married in 5 months?" I told her that it's easy because I know in 5 months a lot of things are going to change for me. I'm soaking up this time where I have to study, spend absurd amounts of time hanging out with the same people every day, and not having a full time job. I'm also really enjoying the excitement of browsing the internet for hours looking at wedding dresses, reception dresses, and fun things to on our honeymoon. Anticipation is just fun. So fun.

-This song/video:

It's one of the sweetest songs I've ever heard. He's such a great story teller.

-Remembering this day, 6 weeks ago:

Well apparently I'm liking a lot of things these days.

Thanks for tuning in.

Click here . Read it, and sign to change.

It's so very important.

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” -MLK Jr.

It's been a snuggling by the fireplace with hot tea kind of weekend. Cold and rainy with nothing pressing to do. And boy, after last week I've needed it.

One week down, fifteen more to go! If all goes as planned I'll graduate in 110 days.

The first week was long. That's really all I have to say about it.

Actually, one more thing- I applied through the Board of Nursing to take my board exams, which was kind of exciting. I almost wrote "really exciting" but then remembered how much it cost, which decreases the excitement level considerably. Either way, it makes me one step closer to becoming a real nurse. Crazy times.

Not much else to report here. I'm sleepy because the past two nights I've decided it was a good idea to drink caffeinated tea right before bed, which has then kept me awake past 2am. I have successfully perused the anthropologie website a good 10 times. What a gorgeous waste of time that was.

I'll leave you with this picture, which needs absolutely no explanation at all.

Happy MLK day from the happiest dog on the planet.

Cheers to you, 2011

So here we are, two weeks into 2011 and I haven't written my new years post.

It's kind of been looming over my head. I've been feeling the need to sit down and reflect on this year, but every time I've started my mind raced somewhere else. Andrew and I kicked off the New Year with some of my favorite friends in Ft. Worth, then headed to New Orleans for some quality time together. Getting back from New Orleans right before school started left my mind scrabbling to get settled, organized, and ready for the monumental last semester. So, there's my excuse for waiting until January 14th to sit down and write.

After typing the word monumental just a second ago I stopped and looked at it, then whispered it a few times. Kenzie looked up at me from her warm cozy place by the fire and gave me this "you're insane" look, which then prompted me to quit talking to myself.

All that to say--typing monumental struck a chord with me.

Because that's really what 2010 was, and what 2011 will be.

I can't possibly type the right enough words to express the happiness I have in me.

I can remember laying in bed as a teenager wondering where God was going to take me, and what was going to happen to my life.

My dreams never placed me in these moments that I'm living now. I didn't even know to dream that big. I hadn't yet grasped what love was.

It sounds silly, I know. How can anyone not understand what love is? But believe me, I've been there. I'm not writing this with the intention of making you feel sorry for me, because it's not always a sad and lonely place to be. In fact, because I had a very vague concept of what love meant I didn't really even know I was missing out on much. I think this is why I catch myself almost every new year thinking and writing about love. I really believe it's because of where I started. Every new year that comes, that word means something a little bit different to me than it did last year, it's always deeper too. It's been a slow journey of learning how relationships with people can help you understand God's love, but also deter you from it. I have many examples of both in my life. It's hard for my inflexible brain to wrap around the concept of God's love and grace; it always will be. But the point is, for me, love is always becoming more meaningful. That's huge. Monumental, even.

2010 was no different. 2010 was a year full of love. Meaningful love.

I'm not just writing about love because of recent events (engagement). While that was indeed a very, ahem, monumental event in my life, what's really significant are the moments leading up to that moment where he knelt down and told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Falling in love, learning how to love, and learning how to be loved has been so magnificent. Love was healing in 2010.

Love taught me how to forgive, and look at the good.

Love brought substantial amounts of comfort. This significant kind of comfort that really did me a lot of good.

Love made the bitter sweet.

Love means more to me than it did last year.

See? Told you- monumental.

I have a hunch that I'm going to learn a whole new meaning of love in 2011, too.

I'm excited to see how God teaches me more about his love through being married to Andrew.

It's an exciting adventure, this life we live.

I'm kind of glad that my dreams never put me in these moments that I'm living. I'm glad I didn't even know to dream this big, this good. Because the greatness of these moments, the vastness of this ever growing love keeps taking me by surprise and knocking me off my feet in disbelief. A disbelief that tells me it just can't get any better.

And then it does.

2010 in pictures

Introducing the 2nd annual year in pictures post. Here's last year.

January

Luke & Kelsey got engaged in our living room. And I took this weird picture of Allie. Allie was weird in January. And all year.

February

I spent my first mardi gras in New Orleans. It was soooo cold. Then I came back to Texas and it snowed a whole bunch. Oh, and I almost broke my back.

March

Chelsea and Dominick got married, and it was beautiful. I also went on the adventure of a lifetime with Robyn to Costa Rica.

April

I ate my first crawfish and had such a happy birthday.

May

A bunch of great friends graduated. It was sad and happy.

Kels & Luke got married, which was such a sweet day.

June

One of my all time best friends of all time, Monica got married. It was so fun to spend that day with her and Danielley.

July

We had a super fun time celebrating Julie's birthday in Houston. A sweet moment with new cousin Brady gave me one more reason to add to the long list of reasons why I want to marry Andrew. I also got to visit some adorable friends in Georgia, Danielle, Lance, Jameson and Mae.

August

I started my last year of college.

September

Lindsey and Luke had the prettiest wedding I have ever been to. I also wore heels by choice for the first time. Big day.

October

October was a pretty uneventful month. I think I was pretty busy with school. I did manage to to squeeze in some time to take this hilarious picture of Andrew while we were video chatting. I love that the computer glitch looks like multicolored smoke coming out of his nose.

For halloween Maddie and I sat on the porch and gave a bunch of kids candy. This magician was amazing.

November

Robyn and I went to a Brooke Fraser concert in Austin and it was amazing. Thanksgiving with Andrew was so wonderful.

December

By far the happiest month of the year. My best friend asked me to be his wife, and then we got to spend christmas together. Couldn't ask for anything better.

fun family tradition of surfing the little ones, our sri lankan visitor wasn't too sure about it though. Also, go back to last year and see how much the babies have grown...i'm not sure how much longer the tradition can continue with Simon.

What a wonderful year it was.

Happy 2011!